


her red scarf

by nihilisum



Series: dreamnap: ceo of best friends to lovers [6]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Childhood Friends, Childhood Trauma, Christmas Cookies, Christmas Fluff, Cold Weather, Falling In Love, Friendship/Love, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:34:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28292457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nihilisum/pseuds/nihilisum
Summary: "what? but...! but you can't just do nothing for christmas!" he insisted, stepping in front of dream to stop him from walking. at first he had felt strange looking into the eyes of the mask, but as time went on, he had learnt to treat them as if he were gazing into dream's real ones."and why can't i?""because...! because it's christmas!" sapnap stammered. he couldn't believe that someone could undermine the importance of christmas. since he was barely toddling on his two feet, the late december had been an integral part of his life, his family partaking in all of the joys christmas could offer."not everyone celebrates christmas, sapnap."sapnap frowned. he wasn't done there though. "so you don't have to celebrate it," he said, placing emphasis on his words as he thought. "the least you could do is come to my house!""and why would i come to your house?"sapnap took a skip in his steps to keep up with dream. "because christmas is about all about family!""exactly - sapnap, i don't have a family."or the one where sapnap helps dream look forward to the next christmas, and the next, and the next, and the next.
Relationships: Clay | Dream/Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: dreamnap: ceo of best friends to lovers [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1971382
Comments: 12
Kudos: 189





	her red scarf

it was the first few months of their friendship that sapnap discovered dream wasn't particularly fond of christmas, or the winter season at all.

they had met in the summer, when the blazes in the nether were the fiercest, and when the lava ate up foolish adventurers, far too big for their boots, quicker to leave only their charred bones. if it wasn't for dream, sapnap would have fallen victim to the hottest fires of such blazes, and all that would have been left in his remembrance would be the ashes of his dyed black leather tunic.

sapnap had asked, when the fall was coming to an end, as they were walking through the land with twigs crunching beneath their boots, "what are you doing for christmas, dream?"

he had said so with excitement in his voice, skipping in between the cracks in the paths because his mother had whispered to him her superstitions. when he didn't receive a response straight away, he looked up, losing his balance and wobbling forward. 

the blonde was masked, though sapnap was given a hint at his emotions from just his mouth. he wasn't very good at spying them, being too absorbed in his own bubble, of the bees perched on petals, of the light seeping through the sky, of the strange bug that was crawling up the bark of a tree, to pay attention to the moods of people around him.

"dream?" he said again, blinking owlishly at his silence.

"nothing," dream replied firmly. he continued in his stride as sapnap stopped in disbelief of his answer.

the pitter patter of his footsteps racing back to dream's side sounded, echoing throughout the landscape of withering trees.

"what? but...! but you can't just do nothing for christmas!" he insisted, stepping in front of dream to stop him from walking. at first he had felt strange looking into the eyes of the mask, but as time went on, he had learnt to treat them as if he were gazing into dream's real ones. 

"and why can't i?" at twelve and thirteen, they were still around the same height and size. dream tipped his chin up the slightest to try and shift himself higher above him. 

"because...! because it's christmas!" sapnap stammered. he couldn't believe that someone could undermine the importance of christmas. since he was barely toddling on his two feet, the late december had been an integral part of his life, his family partaking in all of the joys christmas could offer.

"not everyone celebrates christmas, sapnap."

dream sidestepped and continued forwards. he was rather tired, having slain a bunch of creepers for their gunpowder for many nights, and would have preferred not to talk about such trivial matters. the job request was open to anyone, and dream was the first to claim it, to gather the materials for the end of year fireworks show that complimented the celebration of christmas afterwards.

sapnap frowned. he wasn't done there though. "so you don't have to celebrate it," he said, placing emphasis on his words as he thought. "the least you could do is come to my house!"

"and why would i come to your house?"

sapnap took a skip in his steps to keep up with dream. "because christmas is about all about family!"

"exactly - sapnap, i don't have a family."

dream looked his way, or rather, his mask did, and sapnap finally realised the effect of the smiley face. he had made fun of it before, wondered how any one could be so afraid of such a silly thing, but as a chill ran through his spine that the cold couldn't take responsibility for, he understood. 

sapnap stayed behind for a moment as dream carried on walking, words dead on his tongue. he wanted to tell dream that he was his family, wanted to say that he was his brother, with him for life, that blood wasn't the red that tied them together, that it was fate and they were meant to spend christmas and future ones side by side.

but when he opened his mouth to do so, sapnap found that he couldn't do say the words, that something in him felt it wrong. 

they were family, weren't they? he and dream, they were like brothers, so why? why couldn't sapnap say it?

after that, sapnap didn't mention it again. he joined dream's side and suddenly, foreign insects didn't seem to interest him, and rather than looking up at the sky for aesthetics, he looked forward with his eyes blank, devoid of any of his curiousity.

sapnap couldn't fathom how someone couldn't love christmas as much as him.

when december hit, he would galavant around the house with tinsel wrapped around his bodies, dragging across the floor behind him as he threw the red and gold decoration up the ledges of the walls.

at the town bakery, sapnap would plaster himself against the viewing windows and gaze in delight at the sugar cookies, the buttoned gingerbread men and women, and the hot cross buns, oozing cream and chocolate buttons. 

on christmas morning, the entire village could hear his excitement as he tripped over his feet to get down the stairs and to the bottom of the tree. his whole family would gather around, and his mother and father would watch with pride in their eyes as sapnap and his siblings ripped open their presents, paper flying in all directions.

if dream didn't have a family to do that with, then why didn't he want to come to sapnap's home? they were warm and friendly, and would accept dream with open arms.

it was only when dream spoke up did the atmosphere change, the older boy feeling bad about how he had blown the light from his eyes. they were friends, and though they may not have known each other for so long, dream was certain they were on the course of being best friends.

"my sister loved christmas."

sapnap looked over at him in surprise, his short brown waves bouncing on his head. dream didn't look his way. he kept his head hanging low, solemnly watching his feet up the path.

"i didn't know you had a sister, dream," sapnap mumbled.

"she was three years younger than me. we had the same green eyes, but her hair was lighter than mine." sapnap got closer to his side because it felt like the right thing to do. "every time december came around, she spent most of her time at the window, wrapped in a blanket, and she waited for it to snow." 

snow. that was another one of sapnap's favourite things about christmas. he knew for a fact he had done the same, pasted his nose to the window, leaving his breath across the panes as he waited for the first feather fall of snow.

"we lived next to a lake, similar to the one next to our village, but just a little bit smaller." sapnap felt a cold, biting breeze tickle across a slither of his neck exposed to the winter as dream paused. "this christmas will mark two years of her death, two years since she fell through the ice and sunk to the very bottom."

sapnap's fists gripped the strap of his leather bag across his chest, his face in alarm as he mulled over dream's words. suddenly, he felt the nips and bites of the thrashing cold of the lake, felt ice wrap around his ankles and tug him down, and down, until that ice cold filled his mouth, his nose, and eventually had his lungs in frostbite. his head filled with the imagery of a girl, young and small framed, with the same eyes he loved looking in whenever he had even the smallest chances to. then, even worse, he pictured dream dropping, flying shards of the lake, and the gut feeling of helplessness, of not being able to save him.

"sapnap."

he felt a hand over his shoulder, and he then realised he had stopped moving, frozen in shock thinking about such a scenario. dream's hands over his body had brought him back to reality, the warmth in their gloved bones making him feel secure in his own life and dream's once again.

"dream...!" he said breathlessly, as if he had managed to wrestle to the surface. "sorry!" he exclaimed.

"for what?" the masked boy said softly, in understanding. he ground his hands into his shoulders, as if petting a timid bunny.

"you-! you just told me something serious and i'm reacting like it happened to me instead...!" sapnap explained, shaking his head as he felt guilty. if anyone were to be freezing up, to be feeling those things, it should have been dream, not him! "i'm sorry. i... i should be comforting you..."

he watched in confusion as dream's lips stretched into a sympathetic smile. he felt embarrassed, cheeks blushing, when dream laughed too.

"it's fine, sapnap," he said. 

"it's not," sapnap mumbled sadly.

"it is," dream insisted. "i'm over it. i've done my mourning," he shrugged. "it's just that the festivity is ruined for me."

sapnap stared at him like his entire world had shattered, and dream looked back at him with a fond sort of melancholy, thoughtful. christmas really was that important and special to him. 

they spent the entire trek back to the village like that, with an unsettling quietness multiplying the sound of their feet against the ground and the breaths that came from their cold lips.

both boys had so much to think about, and as they parted ways, dream down to his underground cottage and sapnap back to his family home, looking at each other felt... difficult.

living alone had its perks. he could live by his own rules, meaning that he didn't have parents asking where he had been every single day and nobody could restrict him to staying at home or staying in the village. he had his own personal space for whatever he wanted, salves for his wounds or polish for his armour, hell, dream could adopt a ridiculous amount of hounds if he wanted to and keep them under his roof.

the fact that the cottage was floating underground, built in the remnants of a large explosion, was enough to express dream's freedom, even as a thirteen year old boy. it was every young boy's dream to move out, have his own place, have no curfew or annoying parents constantly on their backs, but those kids were naïve. 

dream had always tried to swallow the sad truth of how lonely and hollow he felt, but now, after watching sapnap walk away from him, back to his home, after their small dispute, he couldn't push those feelings away.

they didn't see much of each other after that, for christmas was in the coming days.

dream didn't go outside at all. after returning the gunpowder he had gathered, he took the emeralds, made some trades, and spent his time restocking his materials. his mind was hazy, he felt empty, numb, and one night, sitting against the winder ledge and watching the cold freeze between the glass panes, he wondered if that was how his sister felt in her last breaths.

on the twenty fifth, dream wore a black sweater, a turtleneck, and chucked the dark oak he had stored into the fireplace to create a glow in his cottage; it seemed to be so dark and desolate for days, and dream wasn't one to enjoy wallowing. he gazed at the fire and wished to feel warm, sighing at the incessant throbbing of the darkness in his head, but it looked like no amount of cotton or logs could ease his cold heart.

he shook his head and wondered what sapnap could have been doing. he always did seem to think about the boy these days, more so when he was unhappy, for the brunette was an unstoppable force of energy and life, parallel to dream's brooding self.

dream smiled, an exhale of a laugh slipping out at the thought of his friend. he must have been happy, surrounded by his brothers and sister, his parents, the family enjoying each other's company in the warmth of their christmas sweaters and their own fireplace. he guessed it felt cosier than his own one, dream wanted to bathe in the gentle flames to feel warm too.

"dream...!" the solemn eyed blonde closed his eyes and let his head fall between his crossed knees. he was so lonely and thinking so hardly of sapnap that he was starting to hear his voice. "dream? are you in there?"

dream opened his eyes and lifted his head. he wasn't so deep into his feelings that he was hearing things. sapnap really was there, confusion filling dream as he caught a glimpse of his chocolate coloured hair through the window.

he rose to his feet and pulled open his door, the cold immediately flooding into his home and wrapping around every inch of his limbs. he wasn't wearing his mask, so winter whispered against his cheeks and around his ears.

"sapnap...? what are you... what are you doing out here?" dream looked up at the bleeding sky, the day tipping into the evening with the faint yellow glow gazing down at them. 

sapnap looked up at him innocently. he looked as though he was mustering up every ounce of his confidence as he stood there, taking a moment before speaking his piece.

"h-hi!" dream couldn't tell he if was nervous or if his teeth had chattered from the cold. "i know you said you didn't celebrate christmas, but i... i just couldn't help myself! i kept thinking about you! alone! here! all by yourself! and i-! i couldn't just stay there with my family while you're over here!"

dream's shoulders sunk down, feeling the fireplace fulfill him suddenly at the sincerity in sapnap's eyes.

"here!" he exclaimed, shoving his cupped gloved hands towards dream. inside them was a red handkerchief, tied up and encasing baked treats that dream could sniff out. "cookies! and they're still warm! i made them myself, and, and they're not christmas themed at all, so you can still have them!"

dream took the bag of cookies and tugged at the top, unfolding the handkerchief until he had a handful of the cookies. sapnap had been truthful, they weren't christmas themed at all, rather they were dream cookies, the character of his smiley faced mask iced with sweet button eyes. they smelled fresh out of the oven, making dream's eyelashes flutter at the loveliness of them.

sapnap smiled giddily. "you like them, dream?" his eyes were sparkling and he has jumped forward, up the step so that he was level with the latter.

"you didn't have to, sapnap," he said softly, feeling the warmth in his cheeks and bashfully smiling. "i do like them. they're cute."

sapnap grinned like crown jewels, his cheeks round and rosy, not at all affected by the cold, and reminding dream of his sister when it finally did snow. 

"you came all the way out here just to give me these?"

"i had to fight mom about it," sapnap scoffed. "but i had to! and it's not that cold, dream. besides, you're my best friend ever! 'course i'd do it for you!" 

dream looked helplessly down at him. he couldn't stop smiling, and sapnap couldn't either, returning the smile with even more cheer. he was wearing a coat, thick and furry, and his hair was messily hugged by a bobble hat, but dream spied a slither of his skin that wasn't protected from the cold.

"your scarf," the older boy muttered. 

sapnap blinked and then laughed meekly. "i ran out before mom could wrap me up in it."

"sapnap," dream sighed.

"she was being so annoying!" he whined, shaking his head. "i just had to get out of there quickly!"

they hadn't known each other for long, but dream had already caught onto his recklessness, and found himself to be fond of it. he liked the idea of looking after the boy when he couldn't do it himself.

"do you want to come in? we can share the cookies," he suggested hopefully. no light source could brighten his cottage as much as if he invited sapnap in.

it didn't look like he would have that pleasure that day though as sapnap responded with a disappointed pout, shaking his head.

"mom expects me home as soon as possible."

dream smiled pathetically. he really was hoping he could stay. "maybe another time then."

sapnap shared his disappointment, for his eyes wondered behind dream to inside his cottage. he had been a few times, but he hadn't once stayed the night yet. sapnap had talked excitedly about sleepovers before but they had never had the chance to organise one, the younger boy needing his protective mother's permission and supervision of the place first.

"dream," sapnap said softly. he almost looked shy. "i'd... i'd better get going then."

dream didn't want him to go. dream wanted him to stay, to sit next to him, or in front of him, against his chest, before the fire, with cookie crumbs between them and icing all over his cheeks. sapnap was a messy eater if dream had seen one.

"before you go," he said, leaving the doorway and walking towards the hall. he put the bag of cookies to one side and sought out what he had had in mind, gazing at sapnap's bare neck.

sapnap blinked owlishly at him as he returned, at the red woolen scarf he held, then up at his eyes as dream stepped forward and wrapped the scarf around him, covering his neck and guiding the equal pieces of material over his chest.

"you'll catch a cold," dream said thoughtfully, his breath hitting sapnap's cheek and his hands still holding the ends of the scarf.

sapnap wrinkled his nose. "you sound just like mom."

"your mom would like me then, wouldn't she?"

they shared something, some kind of look. dream held his scarf and found that he really didn't want to let go, rather he wanted to whisk sapnap inside his cottage and into his arms. sapnap felt the tug of his hold, the scarf stretching around his neck, and he didn't want to be let go either. he wanted to stay too. sapnap thought for a moment and realised that he couldn't call dream his family because that wasn't what he was. his eleven year old brain didn't know anything beyond family, but he knew that dream was something more.

"you'd better look after it," dream said finally, letting go. "it was her scarf."

sapnap felt overwhelmed, felt it in his chest. he grabbed at the scarf and looked up with wide eyes at dream. "you're giving it to me?"

dream smiled at him and tipped his head forward. their heads knocked together gently, and a heat spread across sapnap's cheeks when their noses brushed together too.

"merry christmas, sapnap," he whispered as a snowflake fell from the sky and landed between their noses, the cold dropping like a kiss on the tips of them.

it was then that he had decided that perhaps the holidays weren't so bad.

it was those words that marked years and years of celebration for the two fated boys ahead.

**Author's Note:**

> i've been meaning to add to this series again :( i'm neglecting it :(
> 
> but here's 1 of 2 christmas/holiday works for you!!! i was going to do it 2 in 1 but i think it would work better otherwise it would be suuuper long, so here's a little bit of backstory :) i'll be posting another some times this week, before december.
> 
> merry christmas and/or happy holidays! personally, i don't celebrate christmas :( sad times :( but i hope everyone else has a good holiday and just a good time in general!!! thank you sm and i hope u enjoyed this little fic!!
> 
> say hi on twt @nihilisums :]


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